This senior's in the swim and everywhere else as well

Alice Crowley takes a winter walk — in snowshoes. Twelve years ago, Paxton resident Alice Crowley thought of herself as active, but not very athletic, and certainly not a water person.

Today, the 77-year-old Crowley is one of about 30 seniors who spend several days a week in the pool doing aqua-aerobics — and loving it.

“It’s very relaxing,” Crowley says. “And you use all the muscles without all the pressure on it. This is the best kind of activity that you can do. Because it’s working the muscles in your body and it’s working your heart.”

That’s something Crowley’s cardiologist approves of.

Crowley has learned first-hand that exercise is one way to help recover from bypass surgery while preventing further heart problems.

A recent retiree at the time of her surgery, Crowley took up walking to get exercise and improve her health. But in New England winter ice and snow, it became difficult to get in a walk. At home, Crowley had a cardio machine she worked out on, but found that routine boring.

She saw a blurb in The Landmark about the aqua-aerobics classes, and though she’d give it a try.

“I didn’t like the water, but once I started, I just fell in love with it,” she recalls.

Exercising in water helps reduce pressure on joints while still giving the aerobic benefit.

Crowley also discovered the routines had the opposite effect that she’d expected: they didn’t tire her, but energized her.

“There are times when you’re tired and you don’t want to go and you push yourself to go,” she says. “Then you’re glad you went because you feel so much better.”

Crowley says she feels energized enough to get involved in more activities once she’s taken a class.

But more importantly, she’s learned that the group exercise experience is its own reward.

“In order to get really involved, you need people,” she says. “That’s the important thing, having someone there doing the same thing.”

The camaraderie encourages people to return to the class again and again, and makes it just plain fun to do something ordinarily viewed as work.

It also gets people out of the house, and sometimes helps them make new friends.

“Some people need someone to talk to,” Crowley says. “If they come and they’re able to talk to someone, they feel better.”

Though the group is largely composed of women, there are a half a dozen men who come to classes, which are held most days of the week at the Paxton Sports Centre.

Don’t let the fun of the activity fool you, however. These seniors are serious about fitness — though not too serious. Some class days include a Nautilus session. Their dedication to aqua-aerobics, however, has given them something of a competitive advantage. Last year they beat the Worcester Fitness aqua-aerobics class hands down in a friendly competition.

Though it would seem that attending aqua-aerobics almost daily on weekdays might fill someone’s schedule, Crowley still takes those walks when the weather is fair, sometimes three or four times a week.

“I’m a glutton for punishment,” she laughs.

And don’t look for her calendar to be empty in the winter. Crowley has taken up snowshoeing as well.

In between all that exercise, she can be found doing any number of crafts, decorating, stencilling, tole work, crocheting, knitting.

“I’m into it all,” she says, and that includes her role as a member of the Council on Aging.

You might call Crowley a busy bee, but there’s one place, at least, where she’s the queen and no worker bee: she’s the Queen Mother of the local chapter of the Red Hatters.